STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS

1998 No. 12

The Beef Carcase (Classification) (Amendment) Regulations 1998

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State, being Ministers designated[1] for the purposes of subsection (2) of section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972[2] in relation to the common agricultural policy of the European Community, acting jointly in exercise of the powers conferred on them by that subsection and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:

Title and commencement1.These Regulations may be cited as the Beef Carcase (Classification) (Amendment) Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 1st February 1998.

Amendments to the Beef Carcase (Classification) Regulations 19912. - (1) The Beef Carcase (Classification) Regulations 1991[3] shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) In paragraph (1) of regulation 2 (interpretation) -

(a) the following definition is inserted immediately after the definition of "the appropriate Minister" -

" "approval number" means (in relation to a regulated slaughterhouse) the unique number of that regulated slaughterhouse required to be specified in the centre of a health mark (as defined in regulation 2(1) of the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995 ("the 1995 Regulations"[4]));";

(b) the following text is substituted for the definitions of "regulated carcase" and "regulated slaughterhouse" -

" "regulated carcase" means the carcase or half-carcase[5] of an adult bovine animal which has been marked in accordance with regulation 11 of and Schedule 12 to the 1995 Regulations;

"regulated slaughterhouse" means a slaughterhouse (as defined by regulation 2(1) of the 1995 Regulations) licensed in accordance with regulation 4 of those Regulations;"; and

(c) the definition of "veterinary approval number" is revoked.

(3) The following paragraph is inserted after paragraph (3) of regulation 2 -

" (4) Any reference in these Regulations to a Community instrument is a reference to that instrument as amended on the date of making of the Beef Carcase (Classification) (Amendment) Regulations 1998.".

(4) In Schedule 1 (Community provisions) -

(a) in column (1) the following numbered entry is inserted after entry number 5 -

" 6.Commission Regulation (EC) No. 295/96 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1892/87 as regards the recording of market prices of adult bovine animals, on the basis of the Community scale for the classification of carcases (OJ No. L39, 17.2.96, p.1).";

(b) in column (2) the following reference is inserted immediately to the right of the new entry number 6 inserted by sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph -

" Article 2(1)(a)"; and

(c) in column (3) the following description is inserted immediately to the right of the new provision inserted by sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph -

" Requirement to record market prices.".

(5) In each of -

(a) paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 (particulars of the occupier of a regulated slaughterhouse to be notified to the appropriate Minister);

(b) paragraph 2 of Part I of Schedule 5 (records to be kept by occupier for each regulated carcase classified);

(c) paragraph 1 of Part II of that Schedule (records to be kept by occupier for each exempt carcase obtained); and

(d) paragraph 1 of Part III of that Schedule (records to be kept by exempt occupier),

the phrase "approval number" is substituted for the phrase "veterinary approval number".

1.These Regulations make a number of amendments to the Beef Carcase (Classification) Regulations 1991 (S.I. 1991/2242, as already amended by S.I. 1994/2853).

2.S.I. 1992/2242 as amended extends to Great Britain only. It provides for the administration and enforcement of the Community system for the classification of beef carcases, as required by Article 3 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1186/90 (OJ No. L119, 11.5.90, p.32). That Community system requires the classification of carcases and half-carcases in accordance with the Community scale defined by Article 3 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1208/81 (OJ No. L123, 7.5.81, p.3), as amended, and by Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2930/81 (OJ No. L293, 13.10.81, p.6), as amended. That Community scale is in turn the basis for recording market prices in the beef and veal sector (Article 1 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1892/87 (OJ No. L182, 3.7.87, p.29)).

3.The amendments to S.I. 1991/2242 are as follows -

(a) certain definitions contained in paragraph (1) of regulation 2 (interpretation) are revised in the light of the enactment of the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/539, as amended);

(b) consequential amendments are made to Schedules 2 and 5 in the light of those revisions;

(c) a provision is inserted (new regulation 2(4)) relating to the recital of references to Community instruments; and

(d) a reference to Article 2(1)(a) of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 295/96 (OJ No. L39, 17.2.96, p.1) (requiring the operators of certain slaughterhouses to record market prices) is inserted into Schedule 1, thereby making it a "Community provision" as defined by paragraph (1) of regulation 2 (a failure to comply with which is an offence under regulation 14(2)(a) of S.I. 1991/2242). Commission Regulation (EC) No. 295/96 was adopted under Article 2 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1892/87.

4.A regulatory appraisal has been prepared and a copy of it has been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament.